Plastic vs glass?

[steelerfanatic7]

Had anyone had issues with food grade plastic? Some of the old schoolers really advise against it. I use a plastic food grade for primary and glass carboy for secondary.

 

[Buckshot]

I'm running that experiment RIGHT NOW! The details are at: http://buckshotbrew.com/?p=9

I've kegged both batches and did an initial tasting. There were differences. I will bottle a few and take them to the local homebrew club for tasting notes which will then be posted for all.

 

[steelerfanatic7]

Cool! Very curious to see results.

 

[msujack]

You are going to get a ton of opinions. Use what works for you. Plastic is easier (not going to break as easy, cheaper, opaque, etc). Glass is easier (can see whats going on, no worries about scratches on inside to host bacteria, no worries about affecting taste, etc.)

Use what you like, go from there. Just getting started, I wouldn't worry about using either, but be careful (for different reasons) with either.

just my nickel minus 3 pennies worth.

 

[Buckshot]

I started the glass/plastic experiment because I wanted some sort of repeatable proof that I could move to buckets and not have any side effects. My initial results seem to indicate that I could probably move to buckets but will need to tweak something to the exact results as glass. More to come..

 

[brewingmeister]

Some of the old schoolers really advise against it.

I must be old school since I am entirely against plastic in brewing.

 

[thughes]

How in the hell could there be a "taste difference" between fermenting in glass vs plastic? (assuming you did not ferment for 6 months)

 

[thughes]

Why not expand the testing to see if there is a difference in taste between fermenting in buckets vs Better Bottles?

 

[steelerfanatic7]

I must be old school since I am entirely against plastic in brewing.

Is there a reason why? Have you had problems?

 

[unionrdr]

All this negativity against modern food grade plastics is nothing more than a truck load of bull cookies. In the normal fermenting time frame,food grade plastic isn't going to leach toxic chemicals into your beer that aren't there anyway. That's why they're food grade.
Having said that,they are o2 permiable over the long term,say a year. So long term aging is best done in glass. Even the Cooper's PET bottles are good for about that long. At least 8 months. I had talked to Cooper's head brew tech about it. So concidering normal time frames.the o2 permiability factor os a moot point. All that stuff from the old timers,1st addition books,etc,are out dated info.

 

[carter840]

My issue with plastic is that it simple cannot be kept as hygienic as glass. This is not debatable, trust me I do a lot of work in Bio Labs. There are also plenty of "food grade" plastics that are proven to leach harmful chemicals, Bisphenol A for example still exists in the majority of plastic food packaging.

In all honesty the issues of sanitation and toxic leeching are subtle and I consume tons of products in plastic containers. The issue is that as your plastic containers age and are cleaned they begin to get mico or even larger abrasions that increase the surface area and therefore release of harmful toxins that can effect flavor and in some ludicrously negligible way health. With abrasions in the plastic sanitation does become increasingly more difficult so that is a consideration.

Ultimately from a sanitation, airtightness, and taste perspective glass is better. That said some of the benefits of plastic out weight these concerns for many brewers. Although I don't like plastic myself I picked up a plastic primary the other day because it was cheap and the I didn't want to splurge on another 6 gallon glass carboy. Plastic is cheaper and easier to move and handle- if that's what your looking for that its a great choice.

 

[unionrdr]

The thing is that any that might be present don't leach out very quickly in regard to ale pales & the like. The cheaper stuff that soda & water come in are debatable. And in the case of plastic fermenters,the 1st thing we teach on here is not to use anything remotely abrasive in their cleaning. Most of us know scratches can be a bad thing. They're also less dangerous than a heavy,easy to break glass carboy. Just ask petey at Midwest.

 

[BradleyBrew]

I have ale pails, plastic & glass carboys. Hands down my favorite to use are plastic carboys. They dont break, they are light, and cheaper then glass. I have never "tasted" anything different from either one. I say go with what you like the best. People that don't like plastic... what does 90% of your food come in?

 

[WhiteEagle1]

Better Bottles....awesome. You can bang em' around, light weight for easy cleaning.

 

[lowtones84]

Are people incapable of using the search function?

 

[brewingmeister]

. what does 90% of your food come in?

10, 15 or more years ago it was all glass. Its not a matter of what is safer for the consumer, it is a matter cost and less fuel consumption due to weight.

There are a couple threads about glass vs plastic every week here. Lately it has been nice to see more pro glass people out there. Apart from a blow off tube setup I would be interested in seeing a pro brewery that was using anything plastic.

It took years but the only thing I still retain that is plastic is a wine thief. It is just a second or two of contact. Eventually that will be replaced as well.

 

[unionrdr]

It seems to me that stainless steel has to be used in commercial brewing by law.

 

[msujack]

this topic is once again going over the top. Face it, both sides have positives and negatives. Heck, beer isn't perfect for the body in all aspects either, but we still make it and drink it. Over analyzation of anything provides diminished returns.

 

[ReDim]

Had anyone had issues with food grade plastic? Some of the old schoolers really advise against it. I use a plastic food grade for primary and glass carboy for secondary.

I have a feeling that you have unleashed a monster with this question... Every-one has an opinion and some may even get into arguments.

I am using Plastic carboys, like what PolandSpring delivers water in. And also them BetterBottles with spigots.

I am doing so because of practical feasibility, lighter, easier, safer...

All stuff about plastic Letting oxygen molecules to pass while holding water molecules in... That is just to far fetched for me....

But I can see how some-one would prefer to use glass !

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,I guess that's why I came off sounding a little hacked in my 1st post. This horse has been beaten to a bloody mess since I've been here. No mas,No mas!!!

 

[steelerfanatic7]

Yea i have seen a lot of the arguments about it but what i have not heard are people saying, i have stopped using plastic because it ruined my beer or made me sick or anything like that. I was more interested in hearing if anyone has had these type of issues and thus stopped using plastic?

 

[Buckshot]

thughes, I only had buckets and carboys on this go around. Depending on the results and interest, I may do other experiments.

 

[brewingmeister]

Yeah,I guess that's why I came off sounding a little hacked in my 1st post. This horse has been beaten to a bloody mess since I've been here. No mas,No mas!!!

So you are waiving the white flag saying plastics is the lesser man and agree that glass is better?

 

[unionrdr]

I serously doubt that plastic fermenters have ever made anyone sick or worse. But those plastic soda & water bottles some folks use to bottle with might be another story. The PET beer bottles are perfectly fine for something like 8 months or better. Then you can start getting o2 leching in supposedly.
I'm just not so cheap as to use plastic pop bottles for my beer. PET Cooper's bottles I still have. Or mostly the couple hundred brown glass bottles I recycled.

 

[unionrdr]

So you are waiving the white flag saying plastics is the lesser man and agree that glass is better?

OH HEEELLL NOOO!Just meant that the same old argument got yet another thread! The horse is dead,let it rest-in-peaaaace (the undertaker). Food grade plastic fermenters are perfectly safe if properly treated. But the plastic pop bottles,water bottles,etc folks are bottling there beer in are not safe in the long run! They are intended for one use ONLY!

 

[brewingmeister]

Well I'll agree to the thread being a dime a dozen...
However I still retain my stance on the superiority of glass.
People are going to use damn near anything though so the argument will likely be be back soon.

 

[unionrdr]

To me glass is only superior in regard to long term aging or bottling. Period. But yeah,I agree,this topic is like a bad penny. Gunna have to melt down that sum biotch!

 

[steelerfanatic7]

Ok so the purpose of this thread was to not to get everyones opinion. It was more to see if anyone has ever had problems with using plastic. Doesn't seem to be the case so i think i will stick to my food grade plastic primary and glass secondary. Seems to me to be more a matter of preference than anything.

 

[unionrdr]

Dingdingdingding! Bingo! Yahtzee! Wadda we have for'im Johnny?!

 

[scottland]

You'll have to pry my plastic buckets from my cold dead fingers. Guess what, if they get too scratched? I throw them away, and spend $12 on a new one. And if I drop one, I don't need an ER visit or worse...

Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't make good beer in plastic fermenters.

 

[unionrdr]

Precisely,Mr scott...

 

[JimTheHick]

To the OP's original question, 'issues' is somewhat vague - taste difference and safety are two different issues.

I figure if my bucket smells of glorious dry-hopped brew for a week after I clean it, then it probably has some minor effect on taste or aroma. That smell came from
Somewhere and as such was taken from the beer I just bottled.

That said its a big PITA to dry hop in a Carboy.

You guys ever put cereal into one of those plastic Tupperware type deals? My kids Cheerios come out of that thing tasting like crap.

 

[thughes]

I currently have beer fermenting in a 6.5 gallon plastic bucket, a 6.5 and several 3 gallon Better Bottles, and both a 5 gallon and 3 gallon glass carboy. I don't really give a rat's arse what my beer ferments in; my preference is "whatever is empty when it's time to brew a new batch". YMMV